Child Benefit and Guardian’s Allowance: Payment information

Frequency

Child benefit payments are usually paid every four weeks on a Monday or Tuesday. In some cases child benefit may be paid weekly. The award notice should show the date of the first payment. Subsequent payments should follow every 4 weeks unless it is a bank holiday.

Guardian's Allowance is paid with child benefit payments, and is usually paid every four weeks directly into any bank, building society or National Savings and Investment (NS&I) account that accepts Direct Payment. GOV.UK have information on their website about the types of account that HMRC will pay child benefit into.

Bank Holidays

If your client’s payment is due to be paid on a bank holiday the payment will be made early, usually the last working day before the bank holiday. The GOV.UK website provides a table so you can check if your client’s payments will be affected by specific bank holiday dates and, if appropriate, the earlier date when they should receive the payment.

Last reviewed/updated 24 May 2022